1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved construction for waste draining floors of the slotted type and, more particularly, to such apparatus which incorporates as a self-contained part thereof means for collecting and draining waste materials without need for an underlying waste collection pit, thereby permitting installation of the apparatus either directly atop a solid sub-floor or in tiered fashion upon elevated support beams without pass through of waste materials to an underlying compartment.
Although apparatus of the general type involved is most commonly employed in connection with various types of enclosures for livestock (e.g., farrowing pens for hogs), and the invention will be described largely in that context for illustrative purposes, it is contemplated that the improved floor construction provided by the invention may also find important applications in industrial or other environments.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has long been recognized that inclined sections of animal enclosure floors formed of concrete may be provided with gutters or the like along the lower edge thereof for the collection and drainage of waste materials, as illustrated by U.S. Pat. Nos. 469,044; 487,548; 2,437,210; and 3,859,962. Such installations have a number of disadvantages, however, including the difficulty and cost of construction and the relative inefficiency of such systems in accomplishing the desired removal of waste materials from the floor surface unless the sections of the latter are inclined at an excessive angle for animal occupancy.
U.S. Pat. No. 463,244 is an early example of recognition that slotted floors may be employed in animal enclosures to expedite the natural movement of waste materials from the floor surface into a collecting zone presented by an underlying inclined plate or the like for drainage into a gutter along the lower edge of the plate.
More modern and current practice in slotted floors for animal enclosures has been along lines involving the mounting of the slotted floor upon elevated beams or ledges above a relatively large common waste collection pit therebelow from which waste materials may be periodically removed, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,716,027; 3,721,215; 3,742,911; 3,815,550; and 4,135,339. It will be noted that such last-mentioned patents exhibit recent interest in improving slotted floors as directed primarily to constructional aspects of the slotted floor forming assemblies per se and various clamp or link means for mounting or interconnecting the same in the type of environment associated with a common collection pit arrangement, rather than to systemic improvement of the over-all installation. Such common collection pit systems suffer from a number of disadvantages including the complexities and cost of construction, the extra height required since the floor must normally be installed sufficiently above the collection pit to permit access to the latter for cleaning, the obvious drawbacks of permitting waste materials to accumulate in a collection pit from which removal is difficult or unpleasant, and the lack of adaptability of the slotted floor constructions employed in such systems for use in tiered fashion since waste materials from an upper enclosure compartment would drop through upon animals in an underlying compartment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,048,960 discloses details of construction for an apertured floor for animal enclosures employing relatively wide floor-presenting assemblies arranged and interconnected contiguously and including depending support leg panels, with it being unclear whether the latter are intended to be conventionally supported by suitable beams or ledges elevated above a common collection pit or to rest directly upon a sub-floor, although the former of such arrangements is presumed as contemplated since otherwise waste materials would accumulate within the spaces between the support panels from which removal would appear impractical at best.
Other patents with which I am not familiar are referred to in various contexts in certain of those patents mentioned above and may provide relevant additional insight into the history of development of apparatus of the general class with which this invention is concerned.